How Are You Feeling Now? Exploring EFL Teachers’ Emotional Labor, Institutional Power, and Dissonance

Abstract

This article explored preparatory year program (PYP) teachers’ emotional labor and dissonance in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) setting and this relates to institutional power. It also addressed issues related to the conflict between their professional training, knowledge, and beliefs and the institutional requirements. The final evaluation test of the PYP was used as an example of top-down institutional policies that may conflict with English language teachers’ training and/or pedagogical preferences, thereby producing emotional labor. To illustrate these concepts, the data were analyzed from interviews with 22 EFL teachers at a Saudi university regarding their emotions toward preparing the students for the final evaluation test and the requirements of the institutional power. The results were discussed in light of the following themes: (a) orienting to feeling rules, and (b) adapting to institutional policies, teachers’ preferences, and other beliefs. The findings suggested that teachers exhibited high levels of deep acting and naturally-felt emotions, which could be explained by the idea that teachers internalized their roles. In addition, they showed that teachers may resist the feeling rules of their institution’s policies. This article ends with pedagogical implications and recommendations for further research on emotional labor as a tool of teacher engagement. The researcher's personal reflections and emotion(al) labor were incorporated with engagement with the participants’ accounts.